Celebrity | Entertainment

Katy Perry blew away the Super Bowl halftime show

With the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks providing fireworks at the end of the first half of Super Bowl XLIX, Katy Perry brought some too, literally. The mega-pop star showed off her patented-blend of soft-serve sexiness at the Super Bowl halftime show, performing a medley of her biggest hits that ended with her hit Firework, which came complete with pyrotechnics and Perry rising stories above the field to sing the song.

Pepsi, the show’s sponsor, was heavily involved throughout, with on-field participants holding up lights to make the soda’s famed logo at the start of the show. Fans in the stands got involved too, waving light sticks. It felt more like an Olympic Opening Ceremony than Super Bowl halftime show, which is a major achievement for a 13-minute show in the middle of a football game. Even Twitter, which collectively dislikes everything, was impressed.

Perry emerged riding an animatronic lion and wearing a dress of fire to perform her hit Roar. She quickly transitioned into the 2014 smash Dark Horse, a performance highlighted by a 3D rendering on the Super Bowl field that appeared to make the turf turn into different shapes and sizes, like a chessboard. Perry then made a wardrobe change for a campy, childish rendition of Teenage Dream that wouldn’t have been out of place on Yo Gabba Gabba!

With the entertaining, hassle-free show, Perry proved the NFL correct in her selection as halftime — one of the few things the NFL got right this year. Perry is the world’s most followed Twitter user (64.3 million and counting) and a popular, energetic female pop star who sings songs with catchy hooks. She’s someone in the prime of her career and adored by the NFL’s target demographic: young people. Katy Perry is what a Super Bowl halftime show should be. Rather than dragging out The Who or Tom Petty for a medley of songs that were on “Greatest Hits” albums before Katy Perry was born, get someone actually relevant today.